Stress
and Security Points
Each core Enneagram style also has a connection to
two other styles. These connections are often called stress and security points. The
direction of the arrows in the yellow graphic show the stress
point for each Enneagram style, the
theoretical prediction of how each might behave when unhealthy or under stress.
For the "Security" point,
reverse the direction of the arrows. According to this theory, for
example, a relaxed One might
manifest the playful, high side of Seven.
Claudio Naranjo mentioned
in a workshop that in earlier years he mused about the possibility of directionality in the connecting points.
Many of his students, now Enneagram teachers, took off with this
notion as if it were fact. However, Naranjo later decided we cannot look
at the connecting points so rigidly.
My experience
echoes his: we show high and low sides of both our connecting points. Tom Condon
seems to agree:
"When people are unhealthy or under stress, they manifest the neurotic behavior and
defenses of both their stress and security points in a kind of cycle... The same is true
when someone is healthy or relaxed within their being. The high side qualities of both
their stress and security points will be evident and support a kind of upward
spiral."
